What happens if your child can read before they start school?

[SkyWalker95]

I know most kids learn to read in reception, but what if they can already read independently? Surely they have to teach to their ability and won't make them just sit there while the others are learning their sounds right? But what would they be doing instead? I don't really know how primary education works

IDefinitelyWould I agree, but my policy of only going in when they're either behaving badly or upset/anxious/frustrated means that it's a battle I'm not prepared to fight. But I thought it was worth mentioning, as being a voracious and able reader can cause problems for the child, even in KS2, in this case because the pace of the reading is set by the abilities of the others in the group. If they could all read the book in an evening, I'm pretty sure the teacher would allow them to move much faster through it.

Cinderella it was not meant as a criticism of you, more of an inditement against the process! I'm more than familiar with the process of working with the school, I hope it works out for both our dc.

Oh no my son loves it when they are doing group activities like little kickers, gardening, baking, and Spanish. It's just when the activities are not challenging enough for him. For example they sometimes will do a letter sheet where they are supposed to colour the A and the picture that starts with an a while they talking about other words that start with an A. This is supposed to last 30 minutes. I was told my son internally traced the A ticked the apple, crossed the other picture, listed of about 10 words that started with an A, told them Argentina begins and ends with an A but he likes Iceland better, wrote his full name in the corner, then wondered off all in the space of about 5 minutes. And to be honest I can't blame him. He hates colouring and was already finished. I asked them why they didn't just give him more letter sheets but they said then he won't have any to do next time.

Your sun is clearly in the wrong nursery. That is not normal teaching for Reception (Mostly a pretty free choice of tasks with some guiding from the staff by what they put out, what they're keen to encourage, and maybe ten minutes of group phonics and a story / chat / sing, some PE) let alone a nursery.

That's not being badly behaved. What's he supposed to do when he's finished the work, sit there and twiddle his thumbs? They either need to give him something else to do, or agree that he can go off and read quietly or something when he's finished.

Suddenly DD's reception class looks better. Never seen them doing worksheets. If they were doing finding words beginning with a, they'd be chasing around the classroom picking up cards or digging things out of the sandpit or something. There's always a game.

You need to stop the 'to be honest I can't blame him' thoughts that you are indulging in.

If you have an issue with the nursery not challenging your DS then put the problem to them in writing and ask for their plan on how to change things to ensure your DS is treated as an individual and his needs are met. Please be prepared to accept that he has needs beyond the academic, if they point them out. He has social and emotional needs too. He has development hurdles to meet on many fronts that are appropriate to his age.

But you must also ask your DS to come up with better solutions to boredom than breaking things or being disruptive or tying up one of the keyworkers. The two of you can brainstorm.

Yo are doing him a huge disservice if you suggest to him by your attitude that academic prowess is all that matters or that he is above the classroom rules or that academic learning is the only variety that has value.

Wornoutboots, I agree wrt the alleged 'hothousing'.
Two of my DCs learned to read at age 3 without any phonics beyond very basic showing how d-o-g is dog. I used to run my finger under the text as I read to my DCs and they followed along in their heads. They went on to do mixed methods (dolch words plus phonics) in school at age 5-7. The other three of my DCs learned at age 4-5, in a system where phonics (plus dolch/high frequency words) is only done at age 5-7. We did not have graded reading schemes. They read whatever they wanted. I bought hundreds of books - a good investment with 5 DCs. At the same time, they watched lots of TV and played out a lot too.

"Things is because he was born late he won't actually start reception till next year (although I could petition this). " I'm confused ...will he start reception in September or not until September 2018?

the nursery should let him choose a book to read once he's finished if they really must enforce a literacy half hour.

The literacy strategy was scrapped almost a decade ago along with the literacy hour which never applied to EYFS

Sorry, September 2018

Sorry I have nothing useful to add as my older one got going with fluent reading in year 1, but please could you tell me where you got the Oxford reading tree levels 7-14? I've been looking for a set for ages!

The book people